Rose Garden
by Snowfallxo
Summary: He'd always said that he was quiet, not shy, but Nick Lucas would never admit that he was lying. Now leave it to him to fall for the girl with the broken past. "She was brought into this world out of a beautiful mistake..." AU. Nick/Macy oneshot


**A/N: This is a genuine oneshot. The last one I ended up continuing, haha. But since the song doesn't fit into any of my other stories, I had this idea last night while at the movies seeing "The Blind Side" which is the SADDEST MOVIE EVER. (I bawled throughout the whole thing... but it was so good!) So, while feigning off writer's block... oneshot. Boom. This is one of my favorite pairings, so... I thought I would write it. Yay. :) So enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own JONAS or "Rose Garden", by Nick Jonas & the Administration.**

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For twelve years now Nick Lucas had "known" Macy Misa. Since he was five he had always admired that little girl who would swing on the park swings for hours at end, crying to herself, swinging and kicking her legs in the air. Living two very different lifestyles, he never talked to her, never even said hi. Nick Lucas wasn't shy, no, he was quiet, and that's what he would tell everyone years later.

It was nine o'clock on a chilly December morning, three years after he had first seen that girl, all alone on the swingset. They were eight years old, growing up in a small New Jersey town in the shadow of Manhattan. Nick had two older brothers, and a younger one on the way, while Macy, as far as he knew, was an only child. He saw her at school, he had seen how smart she was – as smart as him, even. He'd never actually talked to the girl, but he wanted to. Third grade boys didn't mingle with third grade girls. They had cooties. The only interaction they had was in the classroom, when it was forced, and when they were teasing each other. Other than that, Nick would watch the poor girl from afar, secretly yearning to talk to her. Was he shy? Yes. He was. Would he admit it? Never in his life.

Dissecting owl pellets was not the place to fall in love, but the first words Macy ever said to Nick was during science class that year, while examining balls of fur and bones that owls had coughed up. No boy would admit that they all found it disgusting, but Macy seemed to find it fascinating. "Isn't this cool?" she would say to Nick, smiling. He nodded, trying to return her grin, but there was no shared connection over owl pellets.

He never did talk to her that day. Years passed. They graduated from elementary school, and then middle school without event. Somehow, the band took off. JONAS was the most popular band in the world, now, and Nick had all the girls in the world begging to date him, to marry him. But he didn't want that, he had a crush on a girl whose name he barely knew. Did she even know he existed outside of being this big rockstar? Did she even care?

All three Lucas boys got accepted into Horace Mantis Academy, a preppy private high school in New Jersey. Their best friend, Stella Malone, was going as well. But Nick was leaving Macy behind. Everyone knew there was no way she could ever afford private school. Maybe everyone but Nick knew why, but he'd never ask. He was shy, shy about what could be love. Who would have known that Nick Lucas was shy after all?

So when Macy Misa did show up at Horace Mantis... all Nick could do was stare. How the hell could she have gotten into private school? Well, she was amazing. That was the answer Nick wanted to go with, but Kevin caught him staring at her that very first day of high school.

"Dude. You got a thing for Misa?" Kevin asked, punching him on the shoulder.

"No," Nick said quickly. "I was just wondering..."

"Why she's here?" he interrupted. "Well, Macy's amazing at sports." So being amazing was part of the reason. "She must have got a scholarship or something." He looked at his younger brother again. "You look like you've seen her for the first time. Or maybe the sun for the first time. I mean, she's Macy Misa. Everyone knows her story."

He looked a little sheepish. "Then tell it to me."

Kevin raised his eyebrows. "Okay..."

The words fit easily into song lyrics for him, but he couldn't seem to find a melody. Nick gritted his teeth with frustration, but payed attention to Kevin. He needed to know as much as he could about Macy. He wanted to know where she came from.

Later, he would write this in his notebook:

_she was brought into this world  
out of a beautiful mistake,  
when her mom was just a girl,  
and her daddy didn't stay._

_she was working at age nine  
at the flower shop in town  
working hard just to survive  
as life was throwing them around_

Nick had no idea about everything the girl had gone through. He felt so bad that he had ignored her, hadn't talked to her. He wanted to show his sympathy, but maybe everything was behind her now. He didn't want to bring up an awkward subject. He was too shy to even talk to the girl in the first place. And her Kevin was blabbing on about her personal life like it was his own. "Thanks, Kev," he said softly. "I have to get to class. It's, uh, the first day. Don't want to be late."

Kevin watched his little brother leave. "Freshmen," he snorted.

Three more years passed. Nick was seventeen, Macy was sixteen. They were juniors now. Not even his brothers seemed to notice that Nick had this crush; they were too wrapped up in their own personal lives. Joe had this huge crush on Stella that everyone knew about, and Kevin was a bit confused himself, love-wise. Between Anya and Stella and the band, it seemed that they had their hands full. No time to worry about little Nick.

He would sit in the atrium for hours on end, a guitar in his lap and a notebook at his side. It took three years of trying to finally write a song, to put those words that had come from her past to a melody. "She was brought into this world out of a beautiful mistake, when her mom was just a girl, and her daddy didn't stay, she was working at age nine at the flower shop in town, working hard just to survive, as life was throwing them around...

"She was young, but not naïve," he sang softly, "always was beyond her years, hoping that no one would see every time she dried her tears..."

_in the rose garden  
where the rain is falling  
and the thorns are sharpened  
rose garden_

_don't let those petals fall  
don't let them fall on you  
don't let those petals fall  
don't let them fall on you_

That was the first song Nick Lucas wrote about Macy Misa. Rose Garden. He felt like it should have been one of many, but it wasn't. It was the first, and he considered it beautiful. His only problem was the fact that he couldn't play it for his brothers. They'd know that he had a crush.

The song stayed in the back of Nick's mind for a long time. He could hum it without realizing it for hours on end, thinking of Macy, dreaming of Macy. And yet, his crush stayed secret. Months passed, and soon it was February. The annual Valentine's Day dance was coming up, scheduled for the night of the Grammy's. That was Nick's excuse, he had to tell everyone that he had somewhere else to be that night. JONAS was nominated for a couple of awards, he had to be there.

The Grammy's became especially important when he was walking down the hallway one day and saw Randolph with a hand in her hair. She was smiling, and giggling like she really liked it. Nick couldn't take the pain, he couldn't stand seeing someone else with Macy. He'd always thought that he was the one. _Way to be an egotistical rockstar, Lucas, _he chastised himself.

It was in biology, early February, that the teacher changed the lab partners. And once again, Macy Misa and Nick Lucas were dissecting owl pellets together. "Déjà vu, huh?" Macy said, grinning. She didn't even seem to be starstruck, yet Nick couldn't speak.

"Um, yeah," he managed to stutter out. The first words he ever would speak to Macy ended up being "Um, yeah". How pathetic. He wanted to hit himself on the head, but he didn't want to make himself seem even more sketchy. So he resorted to looking away and blushing. Stupid shyness. Would he ever admit to himself that it did exist?

Skillfully, Macy pulled apart the ball of fur and bones. After a couple minutes of examining the contents, Macy said, "I know it's you that's been noticing me."

Slowly, Nick moved his eyes from the dismantled owl pellet to look to Macy. Before he could reply, Randolph came over and gave her a high five. Nick watched him with sad eyes, wondering why he had taken so damn long to make a move.

"Who's the guy?" he said.

"Just a friend," Macy replied, "and I've been wondering where you've been..."

The corners of Nick's mouth suddenly turned up in a rare, yet beautiful smile. "You busy this Sunday?" he asked. "Got a date to the dance?"

"Nope," she replied. "Got a date to the Grammys?"

Nick looked up, startled. "How do you know that?"

"Maybe I'm a fan," she teased. "Besides, that's the excuse you've been feeding the twelve girls who asked you."

He blushed again, cursing his shyness. "Um..."

"I'd love to go, Nick," she said before he could finish. "One one condition, though." Nick looked at her quizzically. "You have to tell me what Joe and Kevin's faces look like when you tell them you're not going to the Grammys."

So the days passed, and Nick couldn't wait. He didn't tell anyone, and Macy didn't tell anyone, but they exchanged long looks in the hallways and smiles. Biology was now the class he longed to go to everyday. On Saturday morning, however, they were scheduled to leave. Nick hadn't packed. Nick wasn't planning on going. But Nick hadn't told anyone, anyone but Macy, that is.

Joe was pacing back and forth in the boys' room. "Nick, pack your freaking bags and let's go!" he practically shrieked.

Nick looked up from his book. "Oh, um, I'm not going."

Silence hung in the room. Kevin stopped playing the guitar. Stella stopped folding clothes. Joe finally stopped pacing. You could hear a pin drop. "What do you mean, you're not going?" Stella said finally, coming over to where Nick was sitting.

"I have a date for the dance," he said proudly, looking back to his book.

"If you have a date for the dance, you wrote a song," challenged Kevin, grinning. "We can play it tomorrow night when we win a Grammy."

"I don't think you get it," Nick said, standing up. "I'm not coming with you. You can tell everyone that I have swine flu or something, but I want to take... her to the dance, and you're not going to stop me, no matter how hard you try."

"So who's the girl?" Joe asked.

Kevin brought over his guitar. "Why don't you just shut up and sing for us, Nicholas?" he asked, shoving the guitar into Nick's arms. He sighed and embraced the instrument, strumming out the melody he knew so well at this point.

"She was brought into this world," he began to sing, "out of a beautiful mistake, when her mom was just a girl, and her daddy didn't stay. She was working at age nine at the flower shop in town, working hard just to survive, as life was throwing them around... in the rose garden, where the rain is falling, and the thorns are sharpened, rose garden."

He took a breath and looked up. Joe was grinning like he'd won the lottery, and Kevin was smiling with an expression closer to compassion on his face. Stella was just smiling. But there were three smiles, three people who liked the song. He had to continue. "She was young but not naïve, always was beyond her years, hoping no one would see, every time she dried her tears."

_in the rose garden  
where the rain is falling  
and the thorns are sharpened  
rose garden_

"Don't let those petals fall, don't let them fall on you..."

Nick didn't really want to continue at this point. He felt like he was going to cry, cry during his own song. Macy's song. All three of them knew that she was the one he'd written it about too. "Rose garden," he said softly, ending it abruptly.

This time a pin really did drop; it fell from Stella's mouth. Everyone heard it land. "Wow," Joe said finally. "So you're in love with Macy Misa."

Nick nodded, a little sheepishly. "Maybe."

"And you're skipping the Grammys to take her to a dance?" Kevin asked. Nick had to nod again.

"I admire you for that, Nick," Stella said after a beat of silence. "Not many people could do that. I think it's sweet."

It was also nerve-wracking, as Nick soon discovered as he was fixing his tux in the mirror the next night. He was all alone in the house, and had never felt so lonely in his life. He thought of Macy and relaxed. Tonight was going to be a good night.

He met Macy at the gym, and she looked absolutely stunning in her pink dress. She smiled widely when she saw Nick, in his black tux. "You look great," she practically gushed.

"You don't look so bad yourself," he replied, taking her hand. It was warm in his, even as it was snowing on that cold winter New Jersey night, but yet she shivered. Before they were even inside, Nick pulled Macy close to him and hugged her close, keeping her warm.

"You know, you don't really talk too much," she said finally after a couple of minutes of standing outside. "You've always said you're quiet, not shy, but..."

He sighed. "Okay, fine, I'm shy. Happy now?" He smiled at her anyway. Something about this girl made him act completely out of character.

"Yes. Very." She smiled back. "The only thing I want to ask you is why you wanted to go with me. Didn't, like, twelve other girls ask you? Why do you want to come with me?"

"Because I think you're beautiful," he said. "And..." He didn't want to admit his true feelings quite yet.

"Yes, but I'm the poor girl with the alcoholic mother and the father who left when I was barely a week old. I've been in and out of foster homes, then back to her... Nick, why do you want to be publicly attached to some girl who's lost the true meaning of family?"

Nick was stunned. "I didn't know she was an alcoholic."

"No one does," she whispered. "I don't really like to tell people that... but I trust you, Nick."

He didn't want to finish the conversation. "Come on, let's go inside."

Nick let go of her body and led her into the gym, where the DJ was playing "Give Love A Try". "I love this song," Macy said quietly, pressing herself against Nick, as if being protective of him. "Want to dance?" She took another look at Nick. "Well, I mean, if it won't be awkward for you."

"I listen to my own music. Occasionally." He put his hands on her shoulders. "Sometimes I find myself humming it. Especially if it's a new song that I just wrote... and it means a lot to me. Like there's one I wrote a couple months ago, called 'Rose Garden', and I find myself singing it often. During biology, for instance."

"Biology," Macy echoed. "Where Edward and Bella met. You know that?"

"Sorry, I don't give a crap about Edwin and Belle," he said sarcastically.

"Ignore the cheesy reference to Twilight," Macy muttered. "I'm a teenage girl, and teenage girls are supposed to be obsessed with Twilight and dream of marrying a Lucas."

Nick looked away, blushing again. "I've lost track of marriage proposals."

"Sorry. I keep forgetting."

"It's cool, you know." The song ended, changing to "Fireflies", by Owl City. "You know, Nick, I have had a crush on you for maybe a year now. Like any teenage girl."

He inhaled sharply. "I've had a crush on you as well," he admitted. "For more than a year. Two, three, four years. Five, maybe. I've always liked you, Macy."

"Always?" she peeped.

"Always."

"On me?"

"You, Mace."

"Why?"

"Because I think you're bravery. I wouldn't know what to do in your situation. I'd be nowhere without my brothers, Macy, and how you practically raised yourself... I couldn't do it myself, and I admire how you've still managed to go so far."

She looked to her feet. "You admire me?"

"I admire you. I love you."

Macy looked Nick in the eyes. "The song... Rose Garden... is it about me?"

"Yes." It was his turn to look to his feet as he began to sing. "She was brought into the world out of a beautiful mistake..."

He sang the whole song for her that night, over and over. Macy loved it, no matter how much it highlighted her past. And after she heard it for the first time, she kissed Nick, hard and long, with passion and love. It was a perfect moment for both of them, the one Nick had dreamed of and the one Macy had thought would never happen.

That night was the best night of seventeen years, the night Nick Lucas was neither quiet nor shy, and the night that Macy Misa finally felt like she belonged in the world.

It was the night the stars were aligned.

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**A/N: There's one other song hidden in there... I challenge you to find it. :) Either way, review please! I want to know how I did...**


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